Rating: 
Summary: "A Very Good What-if Scenario"
Review: Niles and Dobson seem to know their stuff on World War II. Even though stories about what would have happened if the bomb did kill Hitler are nothing new, the story was handled in a way that made it hard to lose interest. The initial confusion and the conspirators' ineptitude came off very believable. I loved the way they handled Rommel's character. An honorale warrior in a country led by sadists. The conflict between him and Fuhrer Himmler was good, especially toward the end when the welfare of the Wehrmacht began to take precedence over Berlin's orders. Patton was Patton. I really liked the situation involving the production of the Me-262 jet fighters, from all the problems they had to the havoc they wreaked on the Allied air forces. Some quality combat scenes, especially when Combat Command A got plastered in a German counter-attack. That really affected its CO, Colonel Pulaski, for the rest of the book. The end leaves open a rhelm of very unique possibilities. I definitely will read the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Hitler is dead but the Third Reich fights on!
Review: July 20, 1944: Hitler is killed by a bomb and a military coup is attempted. Little did the German military officers know that Himmler would beat them to finishing line, taking control of the Reich and bringing about changes that might save it.
I found the plot realistic, along with many of the characters (with all their merits and flaws), and thought the authors did very well. I wish more writers were as good. Rommel, Himmler and Patton all seem to come alive. The alternate history was done so well it does seem like a alternate reality.
One of the reviewers complained that the book felt like a wargame, where the two authors just rolled dice and such, and frankly if this is true, I also wish more authors played military role playing games. Let the 'dice' keep it fair!
I plan to get 'Fox on the Front'.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: This alternate history develops a fascinating story around the idea "What if Hitler had been killed in the 1944 bomb plot?" It's gripping as well as intelligent and the authors delight with their fresh style. Michael Dobson and Douglas Niles wrote a book that not only the older generation with interest in WWII will enjoy up to the last page. It's also a great book for young people and will get them interested in an important part of history.
Rating:
Summary: A Teutonic Fantasy
Review: Bottom line: Fox on the Rhine is a darn good summer read. However, the co-author's claim that this book is a work of "alternative history" is stretching the definition of that nebulous term to the breaking point. Rather, Fox on the Rhine is more of a Teutonic fantasy where the mighty Wehrmacht - free of the disastrous meddling of Hitler by a quirk of the author's pen - is free to wreak havoc upon the incompetent Anglo-Americans. In this fantasy world, superior German leadership, technology and fighting ability can unite to reverse the inevitable Allied victory. Bearing in mind that this is a work of fiction, the author's have absorbed enough information about the real Second World War to make their alternative outcome interesting - even gripping at times - but ultimately not very credible. Read this book, enjoy it, then throw it away. One particularly troubling area I have with the book - aside from the improbable characters and dialogue as mentioned by several other reviewers - is the way that the authors deal with troubling facts of the real world - they just wish them away. A major case in point is the rugged terrain of the Ardennes, which was a crucial impediment to the German 1944 Winter Counteroffensive. In real life, the German armor was very constricted on the small, muddy forest trails and roads and this greatly slowed their advance. In Fox on the Rhine, where the authors imagine a stronger German counterattack with many more divisions, the Germans sail effortlessly across the rugged terrain to seize Bastogne, St Vith and Stavelot in just a couple days. This is absurd. More tanks and better commanders would not have speeded up the German advance one bit. A second fact that the author's conveniently ignore is the remarkable ability of small ad hoc groups of American engineers, anti-aircraft and combat support units to put up credible delaying actions that greatly upset the German timetable. In Fox on the Rhine, other than the author's spotlight unit, the fictional 19th Armored Division, no US units fight well in the Ardennes or inflict serious delay. Taken together, these glaring omissions - terrain and US tenacity - make the German offensive into an almost cartoon adventure, with the Germans effortlessly overrunning big American supply depots (obviously, the Americans were too dumb to even blow them up before losing them). Furthermore, this novel tends to reinforce the Nazi propaganda myth that American forces were helpless without air support and massive logistic support. This is propaganda, not alternate history. The other major area that is troubling about the book is the near deification of Field Marshal Rommel. In this work, Rommel is presented as a near-paragon: a military genius, a decent man and a German patriot. There is no doubt that Rommel was one of the best German tactical commanders in the Second World War (and outstanding as a junior officer in the First World War), but he was far from perfect even in a military sense. In North Africa, Rommel frequently demonstrated a shocking disregard for logistical realities - such as in his foolish "dash to the wire" in November 1941 - and he could also be very arrogant in dealing with other German commanders. Rommel might have been admired, but he had few friends among his peers. As for patriotism, Rommel was like the rest of the bunch who went along with Hitler when the Fuhrer was on a winning streak, but then rejected him once the specter of defeat appeared. During the six weeks that Rommel commanded German forces in the Normandy campaign, he demonstrated competence but hardly genius. The authors would have the reader believe that Rommel was such a military genius that his mere appearance at the front served to restore shattered morale and give the Wehrmacht a new chance for victory. Yet if Rommel is able to do so much with so little in the retreat across France, why didn't he do a better job containing the Allies in Normandy when he had an even greater edge? The reality that is missing from this fictional work is that individual leadership - no matter how imbued with professional expertise - is no equalizer against overwhelming material odds. Napoleon was also faced with this situation in his last desperate campaign in France in 1814, and his genius was not enough to counterbalance a deteriorating military situation.
Finally, if the authors are going to change events on the German side of the deck, they should allow for a reverse dynamic. A critical omission is the lack of any Allied strategic debate after the unexpected German cease-fire agreement with the Soviets. Instead of including all those useless scenes with Sergeant O'Dell, the authors should have included a scene or two depicting FDR and Churchill discussing policy changes. Rather than see Greece or Norway go to the Soviets, Churchill would almost certainly have pushed for the First Allied Airborne Army to be dropped into either or both of those countries to forestall a Soviet occupation (remember, in this alternative Operation Market-Garden did not occur). If the Germans had abandoned a "stand-or-die" policy in France due to the assassination of Hitler, the Falaise Pocket would probably not have occurred and the consequently stronger German defenses on the West Wall would have induced far greater Allied caution in approaching the German frontier. Under these conditions, a German counterattack would have seemed more credible. It is far less likely that the Allies would have thinned their sector in the Ardennes or failed to maintain a sizeable theater reserve if the Germans had saved so much of their armies from the French campaign. Instead, the authors present a fantasy where the Germans are allowed to "correct" their actual historical mistakes but the Allies are static to the point of wooded-headedness.
Rating: 
Summary: Altogether a good book, but not without its faults..
Review: Undoutably, onfe of the better AH novels i have read, it explores in detail the events surrounding a Sucsessfull "July Plot". With its many twists and turns, it kept me guessing as to what happend, and needless to say the end shocker was a doozy! for those who havent read the book im not gonna say, but those who have, know what im talking about. one thing i will say, and perhaps this is why the book isn't getting 5 stars, is that sometimes the book gets boring in certain parts....still a solid read...i recommend it for any AH fan
Rating:
Summary: Fox on the Rhine:Exciting 'What If' Hurt by Sloppy Structure
Review: Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson in FOX ON THE RHINE consider the major consequences of a minor act, a sneeze, on the way the Second World War turned out. On July 20, 1944 at Hitler's command bunker in East Prussia, Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg placed a suitcase bomb under the large oaken table where he knew that Adolf Hitler would be reviewing the progress of a war that was rapidly going from bad to worse. It was Von Stauffenberg's opinion that with Hitler out of the way, he and a group of high ranking officers on the General Staff could arrest Himmler and neutralize the SS and Gestapo, thus allowing a newly reconstituted government led by Erwin Rommel to end the war with Germany reasonably intact. In reality, one of Hitler's officers moved the suitcase far enough from the Fuhrer so that the explosion hurt but did not kill him. In FOX ON THE RHINE, this officer left the bomb in its place, so that the explosion killed Hitler. At this point, the prophetic vision of Niles and Dobson weaves an intricate plot of how the plotters' attempt to control the government failed, allowing the Reichsfuhrer of the SS, Heinrich Himmler to consolidate power and take the war in an unexpected direction. With Himmler in charge, the new fuhrer puts Rommel in command of the western front, brokers a surprise peace treaty with Stalin then frees up German troops to be diverted westward to stop the Allied invasion of France, and orders the manufacture and delivery of hundreds of the new jet fighters that will regain Nazi control of the air.
There is much to like about FOX ON THE RHINE. The tale of a new ending to an old war is entertaining enough in that it allows individuals to emerge from the jumble of war as recognizable personalities that had a cumulative impact on both sides. There are many real life people in the book. In particular the gentlemanly brilliance of Erwin Rommel, the fox of the title, is emphasized as the converse to Himmler, who comes across as the petty, self-serving bureaucrat that he was. Hitler and Stalin are minor players on this stage of war, with Hitler dying early and Stalin appearing late. American generals Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley are pictured pretty much the way they were in our timeline. There are included a number of characters on both sides who are surely made up for the purposes of plot advancement. The most interesting ones include a vicious, American-hating Luftwaffe pilot named Krueger, who lived only to fly the new jets to kill Americans. Balancing Krueger's nastiness is the kindlier, German sergeant Clausen, who serves as Rommel's driver.
The major problem with this book lies not in its basic assumption of altering history, but in the writing style and structure of the narrative that all too often calls attention to itself, thus distancing the reader from the threads of the plot.
First, there is no single dramatic focus of interest. Field Marshall Rommel, in his earnestness of purpose, comes the closest, but the reader is left with wondering if the Desert Fox is supposed to be the 'hero.' This problem might have been avoided had the authors avoided the 'clutter the chapter' method used by Tom Clancy in his novels as Clancy uses so many characters in so many subplots that the reader is tempted to skim rather than read the narrative. Niles and Dobson's book would have benefitted greatly with a judicious editor's pruning hook, lopping off distracting scenes and characters such as the annoying and frequent letters written by Sgt. O'Dell, whose only function seems to be an omniscient commentator on the unfolding plot. Further, since many of the characters are German, it is necessary for them to speak English; however, mixing up their conversations with Germanic, 'Jawohl, mein Fuhrer,' serves only to remind the reader of who is speaking.
There is much to like about FOX ON THE RHINE, but there is also much that needed to be done on the outlining stage, prior to the writing. The sneeze that so altered the war might have had its literary counterpart in that editorial red pen, the result of which would have transformed a moderately good book into one that truly sizzled rather than popped.
Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating "What If?" Story Of WWII
Review: What if Hitler had been assassinated? Who would have taken his place and what difference would it have made in the war? This is a novel of incredible scope and brilliance. It tells stories of High-flying aces, generals, slave laborers, and many others in an interesting, engaging manner. The scholarship shown by the authors is amazing. If you like war stories at all (and very possibly - even if you don't) this is a book you can't put down.
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of a great idea
Review: I'm a big fan of WWII alternative history and picked up this book in the hopes of being engaged by an intelligent and well written story -- well, lets just say that it was a good idea. To get this book you have to suspend some basic facts about the war in 1944 -- but that's not the problem. The authors just couldn't deliver a well-written story. The bland and lifeless dialogue aside, at least give the characters some dignity -- for instance when Von Staffenberg accuses Jodl of kissing Hitler's "rosy red rectum" -- come on - did these German officers talk like that? That's the moment I lost respect for the book, and that's only on page 62! If you're looking for an intelligent alternative history regarding the same time, pick-up "Disaster at D-Day" by Peter Tsouras instead. If you're looking for some low-brow chop shop writing - you know where to look.
Rating:
Summary: New version of the war with same ending
Review: This attempt to show an alternate ending of the war was a much better attempt than any other I have read. The author had an obvious respect for Rommel thereby keeping the reader happy about his praise for the legendary General, but the entire scenario really does not lead to anything. Little changes in the book as opposed to history, and it takes a large leap in telling what Rommel would have done once all was lost. While I would like to believe that Rommel would have taken those steps like the commanders of 116 Pz Div. and most of (I believe)Army Group Center later on, the is no evidence to support that. The action sequences were vague and lacked depth, only one time during the attack on Bastone did it ever really get interesting. If you like alternate history, this is a good book, (I am much more into the real history,) but don't expect an action packed detailed book. The "what if" factor is pretty high, and afterwards I found that the book really was not that interesting.
Rating:
Summary: A serious effort
Review: The reviews are in and this book is damn good. My two cents amounts to this; the authors revised history without any goofy mechanisms. No AK-toting South Africans, no Norse Gods, just a sneeze. They refused to let the story get out of hand and they didn't paint themselves into such a tight box that only a successful NAZI nuclear program (or Fat Man over Berlin) could get them out. Good stuff all around. I don't truly believe this is a five star book, but I did want to bring the average up just a little bit. It is, however a SOLID 4.5 stars. While I think a sequel would be harder to manage and keep as realistic, I'll certainly read it. If anyone can pull it off it just may be these guys.
|
